Liverpool's Africa Oyé announces Fatoumata Diawara as 2026 headliner!
- BOOT - - - MUSIC
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
The Sunday headliner has been revealed for this June's Africa Oyé Festival in Liverpool. Fifteen years after her first UK festival performance at Africa Oyé, Grammy-nominated guitarist and singer Fatoumata Diawara is set to make a triumphant return to Sefton Park this summer.
The UK's biggest celebration of African and Caribbean music and culture makes its return to Liverpool on 20th and 21st June this summer, with Nigerian Afrobeats star Patrotanking and Congolese eco-punks Fulu Miziki already announced for the event. Returning as after a fallow year, Oyé are committed to making it as affordable as possible for its audience, with Liverpool City Region dwellers currently able to buy tickets for just £11 - an Earlybird price freeze for locals.
Diawara is a major figure in African music whose performances 'tell the story' of the continent. Singing in her mother tongue, Bambara, the Afrofuturist's live shows make her audiences laugh, cry and above all, dance.
Having fled Mali at the age of 19 to write her own story, Fatoumata Diawara continues, at 43, to examine society’s flaws while celebrating her dual life as an artist and a mother. Through her singing and vibrant voice, Diawara addresses crucial subjects such as female genital mutilation and forced marriage - personal hardships that she transforms into a universal message of hope and resilience.
Artistic Director of Africa Oyé, Paul Duhaney said: "I first met Fatou at Oyé when she was performing as part of the legendary Oumou Sangre’s band way back in the early days of the festival. She handed me a CD and told me she was launching a solo career. You could tell back then she was destined for big things and we booked her in 2011 for one of her first UK solo shows. It's amazing to see how far she's come since then and to be able to bring her back as a headliner this year."
Comments